Anders Levermann said his study for the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research was the first to examine evidence from climate history and combine it with computer simulations of contributing factors to long-term sea-level increases: thermal expansion of oceans, the melting of mountain glaciers and the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.

Scientists say global warming is responsible for the melting ice. A U.N. panel of scientists, the IPCC, says heat-trapping gases from burning fossil fuels are nudging up temperatures. A small number of scientists dismiss human-influenced global warming, arguing natural climate fluctuations are responsible.

“We’re confident that our estimate is robust because of the combination of physics and data that we used,” Levermann told Reuters. “We think we’ve set a benchmark for how much sea levels will rise along with temperature increases.”

Exclusive article

Select your subscription plan now and gain access to all exclusive content on KyivPost.com.

All materials, including photographs, contained on this site are protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced without the prior written permission of Public Media at news@kyivpost.com. All Interfax-Ukraine news agency stories cannot be reproduced or distributed in any form without written permission of Interfax-Ukraine.